The Latest Features
Ditching the US Dollar as Our Default Review Currency—It’s Going to be Beautiful!
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 May 2025 01 May 2025
For nearly 80 years, the US dollar (currency code USD) has been the cornerstone of global finance. After World War II, the USD became the world’s reserve currency and has since served as the standard currency for international trade. It has become the dominant currency for monetary transactions in global capital and commodity markets. Backed by both the size and strength of the US economy, the US dollar has established itself as stable and reliable and has gained near-universal recognition.
Bryston Bi-200 Integrated Amplifier
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- Written by Philip Beaudette Philip Beaudette
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 May 2025 01 May 2025
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
If you’ve followed my work on SoundStage! Network, you probably know that I’ve been using Bryston amplifiers for many years—18 to be exact. My hi-fi journey began in 2002 with a Yamaha home-theater receiver. When I realized I would never use four of its six channels, I replaced it with an NAD integrated amplifier. In 2007 I upgraded to a Bryston B100 SST integrated, and in 2013 I purchased the B100’s successor, the B135 SST2, which I’ve used ever since. The B135 SST2 was succeeded by the B1353 integrated amplifier, which I reviewed in 2021. Although I slightly preferred the sound of the B1353 over that of my B135 SST2 and found the new amp to be quieter, the difference was not enough to justify upgrading. Suffice it to say, I’ve become quite familiar with Bryston components.
SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle Loudspeaker
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- Written by Philip Beaudette Philip Beaudette
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 April 2025 15 April 2025
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.
When I moved from my one-bedroom apartment in Ottawa, Canada, to a detached house in the suburbs of Toronto several years ago, I was excited by the prospect of having a large unfinished basement where I could set up my stereo system. I figured I’d be able to enjoy bigger sound, which I could crank up from time to time without irritating my neighbors. That first part didn’t go quite as planned. As fellow SoundStager Jason Thorpe once told me, it can be difficult to fill a large room with sound, and that’s exactly what I found.
Recommended Reference Component: EMM Labs DV2i Streaming DAC-Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 April 2025 15 April 2025
In his April 2025 review on SoundStage! Ultra, Phil Gold discusses the EMM Labs DV2i, a high-end streaming DAC-preamplifier priced at $35,000 (all prices in USD). The DV2i, by integrating network streaming capability with advanced digital-to-analog conversion, marks an evolutionary step from its predecessors, the DV2 and the DV2 V2 (Phil’s reference DAC at the time), which lack this capability.
Denmark’s Raidho Acoustics—Listening and Learning
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 April 2025 01 April 2025
If you regularly read this monthly column or frequent our YouTube channel, you are likely aware of our ongoing globetrotting quest for primary-source material for our websites and videos. Frequently, the SoundStage! Network’s video team and I travel across North America and Europe to visit hi-fi companies, talk with key personnel, and learn about and listen to review-worthy products. We hope to expand our travel scope to Asia soon as well.
Hegel Music Systems H190v Streaming Integrated Amplifier
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- Written by Matt Bonaccio Matt Bonaccio
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 April 2025 01 April 2025
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
It’s well known by now that trends, philosophies, and designs are often recycled in hi-fi. Déjà vu is common; what was once old is new again. Hadn’t you seen that speaker or amp before, years ago? You’d be no guiltier than me for thinking this way about the Hegel H190v integrated amplifier. It looks much the same as its father product, the H190, and indeed, much like all of Hegel’s other offerings. In many regards, it is the same as the H190. But as the saying goes, it’s what’s inside that counts, and that little “v” hanging off the end of the model number denotes some very significant goings-on under the hood.
Radiant Acoustics Clarity 6.2 Loudspeaker
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- Written by George de Sa George de Sa
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 March 2025 15 March 2025
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.
In the realm of vocal performance, good things often do come in small packages. Think Lady Gaga (5′1″), Emilia Clarke (5′2″), Reese Witherspoon (5′3″)—huge talents, diminutive statures. Surprisingly often, this maxim holds in the realm of loudspeakers, too, where the sound performance of some standmount designs—like the vocal performance of some singers—is so alluring that one’s listening pleasure can quickly develop into full-fledged infatuation.
Recommended Reference Component: Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature Loudspeaker
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 March 2025 15 March 2025
The latest version of the venerable 801 loudspeaker from Bowers & Wilkins, which debuted in 1979, is the 801 D4 Signature. In his review of the 801 D4 Signature, published on SoundStage! Ultra last December, senior editor Jason Thorpe writes that the original model made a deep impression on him and many others and that it was among a small group of “landmark stereo components that changed the direction of audio.” The 801 was indeed a seminal loudspeaker, one that set the course for Bowers & Wilkins. It has undergone many revisions over the years and has introduced design elements that are now found in other models.
The Miracle of the Compact Disc and the Usefulness of the Shanling ET3 Transport
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 March 2025 01 March 2025
When the Compact Disc was released to the public in 1982, it seemed unimaginable that music encoded on a disc could one day be transmitted wirelessly, as we experience today. It seemed equally unimaginable that it could be stored on a server thousands of miles away and played back nearly instantaneously in the home, as now happens with streaming services. This was a time when physical media not only dominated the market, but was the only option for high-fidelity playback.
The T+A Elektroakustik R 2500 R Proves Why the Stereo Receiver Might Make a Comeback
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: System One System One
- Created: 01 March 2025 01 March 2025
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
Most hi-fi enthusiasts agree that the 1970s can be considered the golden age of the stereo receiver, which is essentially an integrated amplifier with a radio-reception capability. Stereo receivers were everywhere back then. By the 1980s, however, as separate components gained popularity, stereo receivers fell out of favor. The prevailing view was—has been—that standalone components (e.g., preamplifiers, amplifiers, tuners, CD players, phono stages) can be optimized for the particular function they serve without compromises and should therefore be able to offer superior performance to integrated components. Receivers and integrated amplifiers became second-class citizens of the hi-fi domain.
